Yet to be Determimed

He ticked when he should have tocked.
His cosmic filter was off kilter.
Reality was distorted.
He had been transported to a place he often consorted.
On some level things had been sorted.
Or perhaps he had been shorted,
on his true undertaking.
Maybe the undertaker was clearing,
a pathway to his maker.
For debts that were past due.
This left lots for him to chew.
As inside a panicky breath he drew.
For within was cooking a mystical brew.
He sensed there was something he must do.
But this was yet to be determined.

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”